Rita's Ramblings: a basically house-bound woman in Fargo, North Dakota blogging for friends, family, and anybody who finds it interesting. I talk about art or craft projects, my grandson (Ian), the weather, movies, books, health, and whatever happens to be going on in my life. Welcome!

Saturday, August 29, 2015

The handmade ink pad and refill holder arrived! Goodness--did I even tell you I ordered it?

Bought it here on Etsy. Leah and I have been looking at these since I ran across them maybe a couple years ago. Splurge item for the new studio!!

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Since Tuesday, been baby steps. I worked on the spice cabinet in the kitchen...

...while Miss Karma bathed...

...and slept.

Finished--tada!

I reorganized everything on this side of the pantry (since I had to switch out the three liners on the left half of the shelves because they hung out too far off the shelves and we finally found the shorter ones).

So that side is done.

Just so you don't think it is all looking good...this is the mess sitting on the other side--LOL!

The high top shelf was waiting to be filled. I needed to find the wood liners in the garage that we had for the shelves over the washer and dryer at my old place. These new wire racks they put everywhere these days...well, things tip or fall through them. Sometimes you just have to find something you can use for a liner.

Karma not only loves the new carpet and rugs...

...she likes the new linoleum (that looks like and I keep calling tile), too.

Dagan and Leah wanted me to have a new faucet for the kitchen. I wasn't really sure why I needed a faucet with a built-in sprayer...but Leah was sure I needed one. She was over Thursday and installed it. Pretty fancy, eh?!

Well, come to find out the main reason was so that I can fill my big pots for pasta and my big PUR water jug right on the counter so I don't have to lift them out of the sink with my bum arm!! Awesome! How cool is that?!

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It will still be a while before all the tools and hardware will be off the table...

...but Leah came back on Friday and got a lot more done! She brought the vacuum cleaner that I wanted (on sale at Costco) and set it up for me...and even vacuumed to test it out. Wow! I am impressed!

For over 20 years I have had two (cheap at the time) vacuums--an upright-only Oreck and a small canister vacuum. They have both been replaced by this one Hoover upright that also has a hose--and that actually has SUCTION! Whoohoo! Won't Caroline be surprised! Has a cup so no more bags to replace and a washable filter, too. Nice! I can even vacuum on the tile, too!

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Of course, the old two are out in the garage as back up. The way they make things these days the new vacuum might not last 20 years...(sometimes not a year or two)...and both the old ones still work. Dagan and Leah just shake their heads because they think I should give the old ones away on freecycle, but I am keeping them for now...just in case. ;)

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You may have noticed some dangly strings in the above picture. Well, Leah put up the ironing board holder and to the left of it...a (repurposed) holder for cat toys!

What the heck is it, you may ask? Well, I found this on Amazon. It's a wall holder for fishing poles! LOL! Was inexpensive and now Karma has a spot for her string toys on poles--her favorite toys in the whole world. And I have totally exhausted her this morning--LOL! She's conked out on her chair, but was she EVER thrilled to see her toys again! :)

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Dagan came over, too, on Friday. We went out to the garage with vacuums and such--and found the wood liners for the shelves. Dagan put those up there so we could move some odds and ends up to the high shelf in the pantry.

I put a liner piece down (too wide, but what the heck) and organized Miss Karma's precious food supply. (Which, if Karma had her way, would have been the first item of business as soon as the movers left the premises--LOL!)

Yes, that a lot of cans--LOL! Costco has a huge box of 48 Friskies that Karma loves (pate) and it lasts her for months.

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Leah got the sliding baskets installed under the kitchen sink last night, too.

Can't resist--one more shot of my awesome new faucet. Who knew I needed one of these in my new forever home to make my life easier? Dagan and Leah, that's who. :) :) :)

Oh, almost forgot! I found the black box in the hall closet under some stuff--tada! I also had my backup doohickey for my laptop in there--whew! The only thing I really thought was in there that wasn't was my blue tooth for my cell phone. So now I have absolutely no clue where that went. Could actually be lost for good because I have looked everywhere else I might have put it...and I do think that I packed that myself. *sigh* Well, it wasn't holding a charge very well anymore. (Had gone from 4 hours down to about 30-40 minutes.) Maybe it was meant to be lost, eh? Oh well.

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I haven't been getting pictures of Ian because he comes over and goes right into Gramma's arms and then we go watch nature shows while tool-girl-Mama has been working away over here. We have been watching bears and whales and penguins...all kinds of fascinating stuff! And because he likes to "help" Mom, when he's scooting around on the floor I am trailing behind to steer him clear of the work zone--LOL! I have got to get some pictures soon, though...or a video!

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Only plans I have for the weekend are to get all the cleaning supplies and such under the kitchen sink and organized...if I even get to that. I am really just plain worn out right now. But happy-happy-happy!!

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My mom should be flying to Minnesota with Blaine and Kathy tomorrow. She's been sounding happy, too. Back to watching her sports and CNN...going out to eat now and then. Good to hear her sounding more like her old self again. :)

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The hot weather has returned. Supposed to maybe get up to 90 today. But I have an AC that works, my new Chromecast, a Netflix DVD, have found all my letter writing materials, and am now living with a cat who knows where her string toys are residing. That's all I need for a cool, pleasant, interesting weekend. Hope you have a good one!! :):)

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

I still get a pretty good view of the sky from the new place. Love the addition of the green grass. Snow will be up close and personal this coming winter, too. (If we don't have a brown winter like last year!)

After we last chatted I started organizing the books in the hallway bookcases.

I am definitely not taking the time to organize in the OCD detail I would normally, but they are in the general places they are going to stay--LOL!

I have to say I am a little less impressed with Linda's moving crew as I unpack...although I haven't found anything broken yet. She bragged on so about how they could put everything back exactly the way it was. I found one random shelf with a lip out on the darker brown bookcase in the hallway that obviously didn't belong. And Linda herself packed my TV cabinet. She put everything else back inside my TV cabinet, but not the black box I had under there with all my chargers...like for my camera and bluetooth and batteries. Still can't locate that box so some of these pictures today were taken with my now dead camera and some with the cell phone. Until I find that box...it is now the cell phone for pics and I'm praying no batteries die in the meantime. I still can't find my postage scale, either, that was in the glass bookcase they packed. No clue where these things ended up. I know I'll find them eventually, but it's quite annoying because of all that bragging she did, you know?

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Anyways, this is where I see Karma a lot of the time...unless...

...the grouse clan are wandering by. :):)

They go by 2-4 times a day!

Karma has spent more time by the patio door--LOL! She loves to watch them like she did the swallows, so she's quite happy.

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I grouped up the satchels as best I could...

...and even had room to spare!

So we'll find something along the way that's less kid-tempting to fill in there on the bottom of that one bookcase.

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I swiped this picture of my Mom and Connie, the manager at the Denny's where my folks were regular customers, off my brother and SIL's facebook. This was the day after she was released from the rehab center. Blaine and Kathy arrived and took her out to eat. She looks so happy!! Glad she's back home. :)

A few of you asked how old my mom is. She's 86. On the 30th she'll be flying up to Minnesota with Blaine and Kathy.

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I caught Karma lounging in Ian's toy cubes. Whenever there's an empty space, you know. LOL! And she could still spy out the patio door for birds or jackrabbits. ;)

This is my view the other direction from my resting spot. And--yes--there's my red thermal mug for T Stands For Tuesday! :) :)

Karma's gotten quite used to her giant CatTV screen.

But she still bolts when the yardwork guys come...

...whether it's on their mowers or carrying those wicked weed whippers.

We have come to look forward to the grouse family visits. It's hard to shoot pictures through the screen, but you can see most of the group--blurry as they are.

Mornings when the light is too bright right smack in my eyes to do anything but crack the blinds for a bit...Miss Karma loves to spy through the cracks...no matter how tired she is...

...her ears are open.

This morning we had a gathering of sparrows hopping about right on the patio. Karma crouched and took a lunge behind the blinds...even though she knew she could only scare them...she dreams she is a lioness, I think. (We won't remind her that she couldn't even kill the intruding cricket. LOL!)

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Well, have a wonderful week. I have the spice cupboard and the pantry to organize this week...and then I will be basically down to the studio...the last room!! That's the goal, anyways. Leah and Ian are coming over tomorrow...and maybe Dagan after work, too. Nice!!

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Only supposed to get up to 77 today and rain expected all weekend. Might even get a proper thunderstorm. (I love thunderstorms!)

Karma does appreciate the new rug. Rubs her head on it a lot and manages a lot of snoozing.

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Karma's missed them, but for the past three days I've seen a family of grouse skitter past the patio...one direction or the other. (One of the parents left a big ol' poop calling card on the patio--LOL!) And last night there was a silent cricket wandering down the hallway. More wildlife down on first floor, I guess--LOL!

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McFamily was here last Tuesday night. Dagan removed all the boxes and bags...and the little dresser from the bathroom is now in the garage, too. More space! Ian and I watched a nature show on bears and started another one on wildlife in China...and played crawling baby chase games. Much giggling and silliness was involved. :) When he was ready for bed Dagan took him home but Leah stayed around to finish up the wall baskets in the pantry. And she even filled them up for me!! Awesome!

Caroline was here to clean for the first time on Thursday and she loved the new sprayer mop. A new cleaning routine will emerge after a while. Caroline said the same thing--it's more comfy and homey here. Oh, and it was her hubby who knew what kind of birds those were skittering across the lawn. Yes, Caroline saw them, too.

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I googled "grouse" and from the many pictures the whole family group looked like this female spruce grouse. So, either they are a different kind or there's no daddy bird with them, I guess. The babies are so cute, though!

Anyways, after a couple R&R days I started in on moving some stuff about. Funny--Leah and I separately had the same idea for the bookcases in the hallway. We both thought that might be the best place to put all the various art & craft satchels. I'll have the cookbooks and the art & craft books up on top and then satchels below. Less interesting for little hands and harder to get into. ;) Plus we have good light right overhead to be able to read the labels...well, once we get around to labeling them again--LOL!

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So, I gathered up all the satchels that had been shoved here and there in the studio and stacked them on the kitchen table. (It is more a kitchen table than a dining room table, don't you think?)

And there's a lamp that hasn't found a home yet.

Then I removed all the odd craft supplies that were in the hallway bookcases and stuck them anywhere I could in the studio.

The next thing I have to do is get all the art & craft books upright and organized.

Then I can sort through the satchels, group together similar ones, and find places for them in the bookcases. Not sure if they will all fit--but it looks likely. If there is any leftover room I'll find some other bigger, less interesting things to keep out there. There's a lot of carrying and bending involved, so I can only do a little at a time...but you know how the baby steps method works so well. ;)

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Update on the roses.

The leaves were all falling off, so I removed all of them that came off easily and then put all the roses in one vase a couple days ago.

They are now just over two weeks old. These pics were taken this morning.

They definitely have lost their flaming color, are thinning & drying & gradually turning brown, and have just started losing a few petals...but they are still standing up, are still pretty, and still smell good when you stop to smell the roses. ;) Not a one has flopped over. I do believe they might dry right where they stand. I am still impressed.

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Been pretty quiet here on R&R till yesterday.

Karma knew I was taking pictures this morning and wondering why I was bothering her...

...but I hadn't even taken any pictures for days till this morning--LOL! Unusual for me. Doesn't she look tired?

She went up into her chair and is dead to the world right now...which is how she missed the grouse family every day. Too busy catching up on her sleep while there's no company--LOL!

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My mom just got out of rehab yesterday and is back home at her trailer! My brother and his wife are flying down today and staying with her overnight for a visit before they head out on a cruise. Mom will have a week before they come back after the cruise and then they are all flying up to Minnesota on the 30th. Mom will stay with Blaine and Kathy for a while. There will be a home worker coming three times this week and she has neighbors and friends checking on her every day. She sounded so happy to be back home! Says she can get around fine with her walker and was happy to be at home in her own chair. :) Soon she'll be up in Minnesota meeting grandkids and great grands--there's a new little baby girl she's never met. I am so happy for her!

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On that note...

Have a really happy weekend!! :):)

Hey! We might even get a lively thunderstorm to clean away the grouse present off the patio. ;)

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"May the sun bring you new energy by day; may the moon softly restore you by night; may the rain wash away your worries; may the breeze blow new strength into your being."